Bell's Cathedrals: The Abbey Church of Tewkesbury: with some Account of the Priory Church of Deerhurst GloucestershireMassé, H. J. L. J. (Henri Jean Louis Joseph)
History
Bell's Cathedrals: The Abbey Church of Tewkesbury: with some Account of the Priory Church of Deerhurst Gloucestershire
This chapel is profusely enriched with ball-flower moulding, both
inside and on the side next the ambulatory. It will be noticed that
the windows are small and placed, for the sake of the security of the
sacristy, high up in the south wall. In the south wall is a piscina,
and close by on the south-east wall must have stood an altar. The
window nearer to this has richer detail than the other two. In the
south-west wall a small recess is formed inside a buttress. This may
have been used as a safe for plate and other valuables in the charge
of the sacristan.
[Illustration: (_H.J.L.J.M._)
THE VESTRY DOOR, SOUTH CHOIR AISLE.]
A special staircase in the north-west corner, entered from the
ambulatory, gives access to the room over the vestry. In this room,
which has a fireplace, the sacristan probably slept. He was able from
the windows on the stairs to see into the Vestiarium or Diaconum
Magnum, and also into the choir. In fact, this view is one of the most
interesting in the church. Two large square modern windows give light
to this room, and a doorway in the east wall communicates with the
space over the vaulting of the ambulatory and chapels. The room had
originally a low timbered roof, as will be seen by the holes once
occupied by the beams.
There are two tombs of interest built into the wall between the vestry
door and the south transept, and space for them has been cut out of
the original Norman solid wall. One is quite plain and simple Early
English work [M], and contains the remains of Abbot Alan, a man of
learning and of considerable note, as he was a friend of Thomas Ã
Becket, the great Archbishop of Canterbury. This is the only tomb of
that period now surviving in the church, and it has been thought that
he was the first of the abbots who was honoured with an intramural
tomb.
Close to Abbot Alan's tomb is another recess which now is without its
coffin. The arch is pointed and crocketed with pinnacles at the sides.
In the absence of a tomb the chief interest consists in the old
encaustic tiles which have been transferred here from other parts of
the building, a few of them having been found in 1875 under the then
stone pavement of the choir. They are now safe here from the
destroying power of the ubiquitous tourist's foot.
On the south-east tower pier is a marble tablet in Renaissance style,
erected in 1890 to the memory of Mrs. Craik, the author of "John
Halifax, Gentleman," who is said to have written her story whilst
staying at the ancient "Bell Inn" near the Abbey gate. The memorial
was designed by Mr. H.H. Armstead, R.A., and is gracefully carried out
entirely in white marble. The only fault in the memorial is that there
is too much work in proportion to the size of the tablet. The topmost
portion above the projecting cornice is a charming piece of work,
illustrating Charity, but too high above the ordinary visitor's head
to be seen or appreciated as it should, and the group rather
overweights the memorial.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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